Australia has had its Brexit moment, firmly rejecting Prime Minister Anthony Albanese‘s plans to enshrine a ‘Voice’ for Aboriginal people into its constitution.
In the wake of his election victory last year, left-leaning Labor Prime Minister believed that the rest of the nation shared his view – and that of his metropolitan inner Sydney electorate – that an Aboriginal body should be consulted on any future laws that affect Indigenous people.
The working men and women of Australia disagreed.
Presented as simply as that, it’s easy to think it’s just another example of ‘racist Australia’ beating down on its wearied Indigenous population.
But in reality, Mr Albanese couldn’t tell Aussies what they were voting for – and even some of the most high-profile Aboriginal figures in the country ended up voting against his woke agenda.
Australia has had its Brexit moment, firmly rejecting Prime Minister Anthony Albanese ‘s plans to enshrine a ‘Voice’ for Aboriginal people into its constitution
From the outset, very little was explained.
Aussies rightly had some questions.
Who would be on the body – called The Voice?
We’ll tell you afterwards.
How exactly will they be chosen?
We’ll let you know.
What changes will be made to the Constitution, and what powers will the Voice really have?
That is a matter for after the referendum.
The truth is that Mr Albanese had asked Aussies to sign a blank cheque – and they were having none of it.
The referendum was all over within 90 minutes of the first polling booths closing. Tasmania – a must win state – was the first to be called for the No campaign, followed by New South Wales and, the final nail in the coffin, South Australia.
And that was before the count had even started in Queensland and Western Australia, which were the two conservative states most likely to vote No.
Two Aboriginal people are seen at a No rally in Sydney’s Hyde Park last month
As energy and food prices soar and with a property market in disarray, the last thing regular Aussies have on their mind is how better to represent the views of a group that makes up 3.2% of the overall population – and who are already represented in Parliament by their MPs, like everyone else.
And having that thrust upon them by a leader who didn’t appear to have the backbone – or perhaps understanding himself – to explain what it even meant, just wasn’t going to fly.
This was Australia’s Brexit moment. Like Brexit, Aussies were not willing to stand for a group of largely unelected people having a say on the laws of the land.
Like Brexit, Aussies were not going just going to tag along with the metropolitan elite – just because it was the ‘right thing to do’.
And like Brexit’s Nigel Farage, the No campaign had firebrand politicians like Aboriginal senators Jacinta Nampijinpa Price and Lidia Thorpe barracking for their cause.
Senator Jacinta Nampijinpa Price and Aboriginal No campaigner Warren Mundine led the charge against the Voice
The No campaign received a massive boost as the likes Price and Thorpe backed their position – showing Aussies that it wasn’t racist to vote No.
Instead of putting across the case for The Voice, the Yes campaign instead sought to sow division by simply pointing at the No campaign and branding it racist – a point Senator Thorpe brought up herself.
‘Labor just points to the ‘racist No’ campaign, and says, “you don’t want to side with that”,’ she explained in an interview.
‘I think that’s part of the ignorance and the racism coming out in this whole debate, that First People can’t say no because they are automatically put into this ‘racist no’ category. That in itself is racist.’
The Yes campaign claim more than 80 per cent of Aboriginal Australians planned to vote in favour of the Voice – and that may be true.
But Mr Albanese’s failure to convince Average Joe Aussie to back him was his biggest failure and he now faces the embarrassing task of trying to move on after falling at the first hurdle of his premiership.
When the UK voted for Brexit, Prime Minister David Cameron fell on his sword and quit.
Traditional owners of the land at Uluru are pictured campaigning for Yes
He had been forced to call a referendum to end decades of in-fighting within his own party about the nation’s relationship with Europe – and foolishly thought the ‘sensible’ people of Britain would back him in continuing with the status quo.
What makes Mr Albanese’s error even worse than that is that he arguably didn’t even need to call a referendum.
The majority of Australia had likely not even heard of the idea of a Voice to Parliament a year ago – and with Labor’s post-election majority he could well have been able to create a new advisory body without seeking permission from voters and without changing the constitution.
Big players on both sides agree that the referendum – and particularly a No vote – would not help heal Australia’s old wounds.
Indigenous leader Marcia Langton, who backed the Voice, said a No vote would give ‘a mandate to cause [Indigenous Australians] even further harm’.
Meanwhile Senator Price, in her maiden speech in the Senate last year, warned that a vote against the Voice risked driving a wedge between black and white Australians.
‘It would be far more dignifying if we were recognised and respected as individuals in our own right, who are not simply defined by our racial heritage, but by the content of our character,’ she said.
Mr Albanese won’t be following Mr Cameron in handing in his notice, but even he may have to admit that rather than boosting the cause of Aboriginal Australians, his failure of leadership has set them back.
Content source – www.soundhealthandlastingwealth.com
